Angry Birds Star Wars II review – Forced sequel

Gaming’s most bizarre team-up continues with a prequel-themed follow-up that has a toy tie-in to rival Skylanders and Disney Infinity…

We don’t know what to think about Star Wars any more. The bedrock of our childhood has been through so much in the last decade or so that if weren’t for Lego we’re not sure we wouldn’t have given up on it entirely. And since that’s exactly the sort of marketing crossover that also led to the unholy alliance with Angry Birds we cannot in good conscience criticise this game on those grounds. Not least because it’s actually pretty good.

We still maintain that Angry Birds Star Wars is the stupidest idea ever, since the two franchises have exactly zero in common. But as any Lego Star Wars fridge magnet will tell you opposites attract, and the first game was surprisingly decent – expanding the gameplay scope of Angry Birds and giving it a sharper sense of characterisation, compared to the peculiarly vague nature of the original birds.

This sequel is, you will not be flabbergasted to hear, more of the same. Or rather it takes the bigger, better, more approach that we find perfectly acceptable if the original game is already on sitting on solid foundations (unlike green pigs tend to do).

We’ll assume for now that there is no one reading this that needs the basic principles of either Angry Birds or Star Wars explained to them. Although we qualify the latter by acknowledging that for some younger fans the prequel trilogy is their primary exposure to the Star Wars universe. That’s something developer Rovio clearly realise and this new game is based primarily on The Phantom Menace – with the two main planet settings being Naboo and Tatooine (a third is blanked out and described as ‘Coming Soon’).

There’s also more focus on unique characters, with over 30 in total – including the chance to play as the pigs. But whether you’re firing Yoda or General Grevious out of the catapult the basic Angry Birds gameplay is the same as always: try and knock down the Jenga-like structures the pigs are sitting on and… actually we’ve never thought about what that was actually supposed to achieve before. But well, that’s how you beat a stage.

What made the first Angry Birds Star Wars so good is that each of the characters was given their own special move, from Luke Skywalker using a lightsabre to carve through a level’s columns and blocks to Ben Kenobi using the Force to push them out of the way.

Angry Birds Star Wars II continues this concept but with the sudden increase in the number of characters what originally seemed a useful new addition to the gameplay becomes an overbearing and unbalanced gimmick. Some of the characters are so powerful that they’re basically smart bombs able to complete a stage almost in one, which really seems to miss the point of Angry Birds.

Angry Birds Star Wars II (iOS) – be the bad guy (pig)

And that’s before you take into account ‘Telepods’, which are essentially a lower tech version of Skylanders/Disney Infinity/Pokémon Rumble style collectable toys. You put them on a little pedestal and then place that over the tablet’s camera and hey presto, it’s pay to win time! (There’s also ordinary microtransactions where you can buy or rent characters of your choice.)

It’s a real shame developer Rovio and Disney didn’t know when to stop when it came to the money-grabbing as the game’s production levels are still sky high and there’s a clear love for the source material, even if it is the execrable prequels. In fact making the trilogy’s bland characters more interesting is one of the game’s greatest triumphs as, believe it or not, Jar Jar Binks is by far the most fun to use.

Jar Jar has a prehensile tongue that works like a grappling hook that attaches not just to walls but objects and pigs, allowing you to snatch a TNT crate in mid swoop, swing it around you like a hammer toss, and then fling it at a completely different target. It’s more fun even than the lightsabre special moves and makes excellent use of the game’s trusty physics engine.

There are other fun concepts too, such as unlockable underwater bonus stages where you automatically bob up towards the surface, which show the minds behind the game are still well able to come up with new ideas. But it’s the greed of the marketing men that almost ruins things and sadly the game’s main priority is to fleece you of your money rather than challenge you with new stages.

The game underneath is still good, and if you’re a saint who can not only avoid the temptation of microtransactions but also of using the more overpowered characters then there’s a lot of fun to be had here. But in terms of sequels it has clearly taken the quicker, easier, more seductive route.

In Short: An unfortunate turn to the microtransaction Dark Side causes some unnecessary problems with balancing but gaming’s odd couple remains a surprisingly successful pairing.

Pros: As familiar as the basics are there are still a lot of fun new ideas here, and a mountain of new characters. The only time in history that Jar Jar Binks has been cool.

Cons: The only thing more imaginative than the puzzles is the lengths the game goes to in order to tempt you to spend more money – an obsession which badly unbalances the experience.